Jordan fears 80% of clubs may go bust
FORMER Football League club owner Simon Jordan has made a bleak prediction that could worry Coventry City, believing up to 80 per cent of clubs in England could go out of business as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
And the former Crystal Palace chief and outspoken pundit says players who don’t want to take pay cuts in the current climate are a ‘disgrace’.
The entire Sky Blues squad and a number of club staff are currently on furlough leave under the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme after the club took action to safeguard its own short-term future.
Jordan, never one to mince his words, fears the end is near for a number of teams with the global health crisis having a crippling effect on football’s finances.
“Not only are we facing a challenge in terms of generating revenue from spectators, we are talking about the sustainability of our national sport,” he said.
“And that leads me on to the conclusion that, if my theory is in some respects bordering on half-correct, then I think 70 to 80 per cent of clubs in this country could very easily go bust. We could have a real meltdown..”
The former Crystal Palace owner also took aim at Manchester United legend Roy Keane, who recently stated his belief that players shouldn’t feel obligated to accept pay cuts during the crisis.
Mesut Ozil has recently been widely criticised for being one of the few Arsenal players to reject a reduction to his £350,000-a-week salary amid the ongoing pandemic.
“It’s a disgrace that players don’t want to take pay cuts,” added Jordan. “The fact that Luddites like Roy Keane come out and say, ‘players haven’t got to do anything’, just evolves and crystallises the ignorance.”